New Visitors: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the web archive, as previous
lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first lesson is, "Why
This Discussion?"

We have covered a large amount of information over the past six months, and now we have
come to the point where all of the main advanced yoga practices have been shared. Does
this mean there is nothing else to add in the way of practices? I don't think we could
ever get to that stage, because yoga is a vast subject with innumerable details that we
could discuss indefinitely. There are many supporting and incidental practices we can get
into. Maybe we will as the discussion continues. But the primary ones have been covered
already here in the main lessons and in the tantra group. Using the advanced yoga
practices given so far, so much purification and opening deep in the nervous system can be
achieved that everything else that is necessary for enlightenment will come automatically
through the connectedness of yoga.

That is the goal in these lessons -- to provide the essential means to stimulate the
nervous system to purify and open itself, which it is very inclined to do when given the
opportunity. Once the ball gets rolling, many aspects of our natural inclination toward
human spiritual transformation will kick in. The goal here is to assist you in becoming
self-sufficient in yoga like that.

Way back in the beginning of the lessons, we talked about natural abilities contained
within all of us that only need some stimulation to move us toward conscious inner
openings to the infinite. These abilities are rooted in several fundamental principles
that are inherent in our nervous system. We are all designed and built to experience
unending divine ecstatic bliss!

In this lesson we will review the fundamental principles, the natural abilities that stem
from them, and the practices that have been given that stimulate these natural abilities.
The essence of yoga science is discovering and applying the simplest and most powerful
means for leveraging the natural abilities we have to hasten our spiritual transformation.
That is what these lessons have been aiming to do.

The fundamental principles of human spiritual transformation are simple enough, and we
have touched on them often in the lessons, discussing from many different angles. There
are five of them:

4. Ecstasy - Experienced when our nervous system is stimulated by the awakening our
inner life-force.

5. Union - our transformation to a permanent state of compassionate unity, the
fruition of the merging of our inner silence and ecstasy - It is Love.

These fundamental principles of enlightenment begin with love and end with love. It is
love that leads us through human spiritual transformation involving the purification and
opening of our nervous system, which reveals the principles of inner silence and ecstatic
conductivity in us, and their merging. To accomplish this, love employs the methods of
yoga, which take advantage of natural abilities we all have that are associated with the
five fundamental principles. Let's list those abilities now:

NATURAL ABILITIES

1. The ability that desire, consistently applied toward an objective, has to move our
inner and outer expressions of energy (life-force) in ways that fundamentally change our
experience of life.

2. The ability our mind has to move naturally toward stillness. This is awareness without
any objects - also called inner silence, or pure bliss consciousness.

3. The ability of the mind to effortlessly refine the thought of a sound, naturally
bringing the mind to stillness over and over again. Certain sounds resonate with certain
aspects of our nervous system. These sounds can be used selectively to stimulate the
nervous system toward an orderly transformation.

4. The mind-body connection that enables naturally cultivated stillness of mind to induce
stillness of our body, metabolism, and breath. This is the connectedness of yoga,
experienced in many ways through our opening nervous system.

5. The ability of our nervous system to naturally sustain the quality of stillness, our
silent blissful inner consciousness, even when it is not being cultivated. This is called
a state of "silent witnessing," among other things.

6. The ability of restraint and regulation of breath to influence the flow of life-force
in the nervous system, producing a sensation of relaxation and, ultimately, feelings of
ecstasy in the body.

7. The ability of inner silence and the flow of life-force in the body to remove
obstructions lodged deep in our nervous system, purifying and opening our awareness
gradually to an expanding experience of inner peace, creative energy, happiness, and love.

8. The ability of restraint and regulation of breath to "awaken" the vast
storehouse of life-force located in our pelvic region -- sexual energy that is drawn
upward in our nervous system to compensate for a reduced intake of oxygen when the breath
is gently restrained.

9. The ability of attention to influence the flow of the life-force in the body,
especially when combined with restraint and regulation of breath.

10. The ability of certain nerves and nerve plexuses to be stimulated physically to
enhance and direct the flow of life-force in the body.

11. The ability of the neuro-biology in the center and front of the head (the third eye)
to connect with and direct (control) the neuro-biology near the base of the spine and the
vast storehouse of life-force (sexual energy) in that region.

12. The ability of the nerve in the center of the spine to conduct the life-force and
ecstatic energy between the pelvic region and the third eye. This is called the spinal
nerve.

13. The ability of the spinal nerve to radiate life-force and ecstatic energy throughout
the entire body, enlivening every aspect of the higher neuro-biology within us in a smooth
and orderly way. This is the rise of permanent ecstatic conductivity.

14. The ability of the nervous system to amplify the power of a thought when the thought
is initiated deep in inner silence, yielding great purifying effects in the body and
surrounding environment.

15. The ability of inner silence and ecstatic energy to merge and be sustained as one
self-conscious presence in our nervous system. This is experienced as ecstatic bliss. This
we come to know as the expression of our Self.

16. The ability of ecstatic bliss to flow out from us to our surroundings as divine love.
Then we find our Self in the form of all we encounter. This is the natural flowering of
divine love in service to all beings.

All of these abilities exist in us, and only need some nudging to begin to manifest
changes in how our nervous system is functioning. With the full range of advanced yoga
practices, we can do a lot of nudging, stimulating every natural ability we have that can
move us along the path of human spiritual transformation.

Everyone reacts a little differently to the processes of stimulation through yoga
practices, due to the differences we each have in the structure of inner obstructions that
are to be steadily and safely dissolved. We all can make the journey of transformation
through yoga. It is only a matter of managing the conduct of our practices. This we call,
"self-pacing."

We have built up an integrated system of practices that stimulate the activation of the
abilities listed above, bringing to our conscious experience the fulfillment of the five
fundamental principles.

Let's now list the practices for review.

PRACTICES

1. Cultivation of desire for practices - bhakti (love of truth and/or God in the
heart). Bhakti/desire is the engine that drives all yoga practices. We accomplish it by
favoring a chosen high ideal (ishta) with all of our desires and emotions, whether they
are positive or negative. In this way, a huge momentum driving us toward enlightenment is
created within us and around us. Then everything we need to progress on our journey is
drawn to us magnetically, including the willpower to engage in daily advanced yoga
practices for as long as it takes to complete our journey.

2. Deep meditation with the mantra (plus three mantra enhancements along
the way). Meditation involves bringing the mind (and body) to
stillness over and over again twice daily, stimulating deep purification in our nervous
system, and yielding permanent inner blissful silence.

3. Spinal breathing pranayama - the primary practice for awakening and balancing the
life-force in the spinal nerve between the third eye and root. The life-force is also
called kundalini.

4. Enhancements to spinal breathing, increasing
stimulation of the life-force in the spinal nerve.

5. Mulabandha/asvini - awakening the
life-force (kundalini) at the root.

6. Sambhavi - a means for producing direct physical stimulation of the neurological
mechanisms of the third eye in the head. Controlled and
stable stimulation of kundalini at the root and throughout the nervous system is achieved
in this way.

7. Asanas (postures) - systematic bending and stretching of the body that is a
natural complement to spinal breathing pranayama and deep meditation. Asanas help
cultivate and purify the nervous system.

8. Siddhasana - a powerful way of sitting during practices for awakening kundalini at
the root. Over time, the entire nervous system is illuminated by this procedure,
performed effortlessly during all sitting advanced yoga practices.

9. Yoni mudra kumbhaka - a practice that helps open the third eye and awakens the life-force/kundalini in the entire
nervous system through kumbhaka (breath retention) and associated mudras and bandhas.

10. Tantric sexual relations (the holdback method)
- similar to the dynamics of
siddhasana and used during sexual relations with or without a partner. Tantric sex is a
powerful way to enliven and distribute the life-force (kundalini) throughout the body.

11. Kechari mudra (five stages) - Entering stage 2 kechari is one
of the most dramatic transitions in all advanced yoga practices. It is a primary
stimulator of kundalini, and a major cause of the rise of permanent ecstatic conductivity
in the nervous system.

12. Uddiyana bandha and nauli - stimulating the upward movement of kundalini using
the diaphragm and abdominal muscles.

13. Dynamic jalandhara (chin pump), with or without kumbhaka (breath retention),
stimulating ecstatic energies between the heart and head, and throughout the body.

14. Samyama - the process of initiating and releasing particular thoughts (sutras)
deep within our inner silence, producing powerful purifying effects throughout the nervous
system. The effects can manifest as so-called supernormal powers, which are called
siddhis. Samyama is done for spiritual purification and the rise of the
unity experience.

15. Spinal bastrika - a breathing method that dramatically accelerates the purification of the spinal nerve, and the entire
nervous system.

17. Crown to root bastrika - another breathing method for purifying the
sushumna between the crown flower cup and root. It is best undertaken only after extensive
purification of the nervous system has been achieved through spinal
breathing, deep meditation, and other methods that cleanse the nervous system of karmic
obstructions in a smooth and progressive manner. Premature opening of the crown can lead
to much difficulty, discomfort, and distraction on the path, so this advanced practice is
best undertaken only when tests of stability have been successfully conducted at the crown.

18. Loving service to others - a conscious practice, and a natural result of the
increasing outward flow of divine love resulting from the purification and opening of the
nervous system produced by advanced yoga practices. This is our natural state of being
- an endless overflowing of ecstatic bliss and divine love. Nothing on this earth, or
beyond, is more real or more powerful than this great truth that is inherent in every one
of us. The reality of divine love is the ultimate truth in us. As we become advanced in
yoga, this becomes crystal clear. For some it is known right from the very first sitting
in deep meditation.

This lesson has been to summarize all that we have covered so far, including the
fundamental principles of human spiritual transformation, the natural abilities we have
within us that bring about our transformation, and the key advanced yoga practices that
stimulate our natural abilities into action.

With a twice-daily routine of practices, we place ourselves on a "fast track" to
enlightenment. It is potentially so fast that it is essential that we develop skill in
regulating the practices we are doing each day, measuring each practice by the clock. We
adjust practice times as necessary to maintain smooth and steady progress without
incurring excessive discomfort due to too many obstructions being released in our nervous
system.

This regulation of practices is called "self-pacing," and it too is a practice
- one of the most important practices. For, without good self-pacing, we are not
likely to get very far on the road to enlightenment.

Another aspect of advanced yoga practices is the prudent handing of experiences, whether
they are mundane or extreme. This is a path of enjoyment, and we are entitled to enjoy the
"scenery" we encounter on our journey to enlightenment. However, the scenery is
not what will advance us on our path, It is our practices that will move us ahead. So,
after an admiring look at the passing scenery, no matter how beautiful or
attention-grabbing it may be, we easily go back to the practice we are doing. If spiritual
experiences come while we are in our daily activities, as they certainly shall, we then
can continue to enjoy the experiences, or go back to whatever it is we are doing.

We always have a choice. Spiritual life is not something that must be hijacking us from
ordinary life. If it is, we have probably engaged in some kind of excess in the past, and
a stable routine of practices can correct this. Spiritual life is something that can be
cultivated to fulfill our daily activities in everyday life, whatever they may be. We are
free to live our rising spiritual experiences in a way that is compatible with our needs.
It is our life, our journey, and our enlightenment. We have no one to become but our Self.